Main Cast: William Holden, Rick Schroder, Jack Thompson, Olivia Hamnett, Alwyn Kurts
Release Year: 1980
Country: US/AU
Run Time: 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Despite its title, The Earthling is not a science fiction opus. Instead, it's a low-key character study about a doomed man who finds a new lease on life by helping another lost soul. Suffering from terminal cancer, Patrick Foley (William Holden) returns to his native Australia. Intending to live out his last few months alone, Foley comes out of his shell long enough to teach impressionable young orphan Shawn Daley (Ricky Schroder) a few Bush Country survival skills. Ironically, director Peter Collinson was himself a cancer victim, who died shortly after the film's completion. The Earthling works best on a kiddie-matinee level, with Holden's performance and the gorgeous photography its chief assets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The final film of director Peter Collinson and one of the last for ill-fated star William Holden, this adventure drama is thoroughly absorbing, a surprise artistic success given its ill-chosen title, meditative pace, and somberly hushed, serious tone. The central tragedy that provides the film's impetus, as well as its recurring motifs of death's random capriciousness, render it inappropriate for younger children -- but more mature viewers will savor the script's ruminations on the struggle to survive, on mortality, and on the need of one generation to pass along its collective wisdom to another. There's also the filmed-on-location Australian backdrop, impressively forbidding and remote, but striking to behold and alien enough to set the action apart from other wilderness survival tales. Holden brings a worldly, cynical gravitas to his role that seems appropriately grizzled and hard-earned, while the then-young Rick Schroder turns in one of his two best childhood performances (the other in 1979's remake of The Champ) as a severely traumatized boy who learns to -- in the parlance of modern-day therapy-speak -- "deal with his reality." Its slow-moving story line and thoughtful nature virtually guarantee it a limited audience, but for those who stick around for the full running time, The Earthling (1980) yields rich thematic material to savor. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Redmond Phillips - Bobby Burns; Willie Fennell - R.C.; Ray Barrett - Parnell; Pat Evison - Meg Neilson; Tony Barry - Red; Maggie Blinco - Jessica; Tui Bow - Lyla; Jane Harders - Molly Ann Hogan; Allan Penney - Harlan; Danny Adcock - Bus Driver; Dawn Schroder - Dalton; Walter Pym - Uncle
Credit
Judith Dorsman - Costume Designer, Christopher Williams - First Assistant Director, Mark Egerton - First Assistant Director, Steve Andrews - First Assistant Director, Peter Collinson - Director, Nicholas Beauman - Editor, Frank Morriss - Editor, Dick de Benedictis - Composer (Music Score), Carol Connors - Songwriter, David Shire - Songwriter, David Copping - Production Designer, Bernard Hides - Production Designer, Bob Hilditch - Production Designer, Donald M. McAlpine - Cinematographer, Elliot Schick - Producer, John Strong - Producer, Lanny Cotler - Screenwriter, Michael Lloyd - Music Producer
This was one of William Holden's last films. He plays Patrick Foley, a jaded loner who is dying of cancer and decides to return to the outback where he was born. He has stopped taking his medicine and is at peace with his decision to die alone in the woods. On his journey, he notices a family camping. From a neighboring peak, Foley watches as Shawn (Schroder), a ten year old boy, removes a piece of wood from the tire of the family's camper because he was helping his father collect firewood. The camper rolls off the cliff it is parked next to with Shawn's parents inside. Shawn climbs down from the cliff only to realize his parents are dead. Foley has an ethical dilemma- take the stranded seven year old back to civilization, and lose his own wish to die where he was born, or continue his personal mission and let the boy die alone in the wilderness. He decides to take the boy with him, and teaches him along the way how to survive in the wilderness. A strong bond grows between the two, and when Foley finally dies, Shawn is equipped to travel out of the outback alone.
The film seemed to inspire greatly mixed reviews, with some critics reviling it, while others praised it. It played to little notice in theatres in the US but later becoming something of a daytime staple on HBO and other cable-movie channels in the early and mid 1980's.
